Bottle sealing device



E. DAVIDSON BOTTLE SEALING DEVICE Original Filed Nov. 1. 1960 June 29, 1965 74 519 INVENTOR. 544/1. pAv/pso/v BY m m Arron/vars r FIG. 8

United States Patent 3,191,789 BOTTLE SEALING DEVIQE Emil Davidson, Scarsdale, N.Y., assignor to Guild Molders, Ind, Elmsford, N.Y., a corporation of New York Original application Nov. 1, 1960, Ser. No. 66,479, new

Patent No. 3,092,281, dated June 4, 1963. Divided and this application Apr. 30, 1963, Ser. No. 276,844

3 Claims. (Cl. 215-40) The present invention relates generally to gasket devices and relates particularly to a sealing device for closures such as a bottle and cap where two surfaces are brought together to form a fluid-tight seal. This is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 66,479, entitled Sealing Device and filed on November 1, 1960, now Patent No. 3,092,281 granted June 4, 1963.

Among the most commonly employed means for effecting a liquid tight seal between a bottle and a bottle cap is the use of a resilient gasket material having a disc-like or an annular shape. Specifically, it is ordinary practice to place within the inside of a bottle cap a flat disc of some reasonably resilient material which substantially covers the fiat upper surface of the inside of the bottle cap. Alternatively, a washer-shaped segment of resilient material is employed which is placed against the outer portion of the fiat upper surface of the inside of a bottle cap. When a cap having such a sealing gasket is placed upon its mating bottle, the upper surface of the bottle is engaged against the lower surface of the sealing material which is depressed when the cap is tightly secured to the bottle. The deformation of the gasket material which is squeezed between the cap and the top of the bottle is usually effective to seal the bottle cavity from the atmosphere. Ordinarily there are irregularities in both the top surface of the bottle and the inside surface of the bottle cap such that non-planar surfaces are formed. The function of the resilient sealing material placed between the bottle and cap is to accommodate these irregularities by providing a resilient material which will fill each one of the depressions which exist in the respective surfaces.

The above described method of sealing a bottle and mating cap has been generally successful in a large variety of differing application wherein the above described surface irregularities of bottle and cap have been of relatively small magnitude. However, this technique has proven inadequate for certain sealing operations. Notably, where the bottle cap does not have a fiat and solid surface on the top of the inner portion of the cap, the sealing problems become magnified. It will be appreciated that in the ordinary situation Where a flat disc-like gasket is employed there will be only one surface from which liquid contained within the bottle may leak out of the bottle. That one escape surface is the surface between the lower portion of the gasket material and the upper surface of the bottle. However, it will be further appreciated that in situations wherein an annular gasket is employed, there are two potential leakage surfaces. The first potential leakage surface is that which exists between the lower portion of the gasket material and the upper portion of the bottle (similar to the situation where a disc-like gasket is employed). The second leakage surface exists between the top of the inside of the cap and the top of the gasket material. Since the gasket material is required to accommodate irregularities in both the bottle surface and the cap surface the demanded sealing qualities often exceed the capabilities of available gasket material. Similarly, in applications where a very tight seal is required between a bottle cap and a bottle and in situations wherein the irregularities in the surfaces of the bottle cap and the bottle are relatively great, the presently known gasket materials are often incapable of providing the requisite seal.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a 3,191,789 Patented June 29, 1965 sealing device which obviates one or more of the above mentioned disadvantages of presently known sealing methods. Specifically, it is the object of the present invention to provide a seal device having improved characteristics.

It is within the contemplation of the present invention to provide a sealing device which will accommodate irregularities in surfaces to be sealed and which will seal those surfaces.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sealing device for use with a bottle and mating bottle cap which will effectively provide a tight seal along the surface of the bottle cap and a tight seal along the surface of the bottle.

It is also within the contemplation of the present invention to provide a seal which is capable of sealing surfaces at opposite sides of the device.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sealing device having a first sealing member carrying a first sealing surface and a second sealing member attached thereto carrying a second sealing surface.

In accordance with an illustrative embodiment demonstrating features of the present invention there is provided a sealing device comprising a first sealing member and a second seaiing member disposed in a plane parallel to the plane defined by the first sealing member and spaced therefrom. A flexible joining segment is provided to connect the first sealing member to the second sealing member at their respective outer peripheries, the first sealing member, second sealing member and joining segments being integrally formed of a resilient material. The first sealing member has a sealing surface on the side opposite from the second sealing member, and the second sealing member has a second sealing surface on its side opposite from the first sealing member. Therefore, there are provided two independent sealing surfaces which are adapted for use in situations where it is desired to provide a seal at two surfaces.

The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be best appreciated by reference to the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a bottle and cap employing a sealing device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the assembly shown in FIG. 1 taken along the lines 2-2 of FIG. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged bottom view of the sealing device utilized in the assembly of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a further enlarged and partially sectional view of the sealing device according to the present invention as used in the assembly of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of a bottle and two part cap employing sealing devices according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the top portion of the assembly shown in FIG. 5 taken along the lines 66 of FIG. 5 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of one of the devices utilized in the assembly shown in FIGS. 5 and 6; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged and partially sectioned view of the sealing device of FIG. 7.

Referring now specifically to the drawings there is shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4 a first sealing device according to the present invention. The first embodiment of a sealing device is generally indicated by the numeral 10 and is illustrated in the assembly of a bottle 12 and a cap l4. The bottle 12'has a neck portion 16 including threads 18 formed thereinand terminates at an upper surface 20 which defines a plane perpendicular to the axis of the neck 16. Positioned upon the neck 16 and surrounding same is the cap 14 which has depending side walls 22 having internal threads 24 integrally formed therein. The cap 14 has a top wall 26 which is substantially perpendicular to the depending side walls 24 and is perpendicular to the axis of the cap 14. Extending from the top wall 26, downwardly along the central axis of the cap 22, is a protrusion 28 of generally conical Configuration which terminates in a ball shaped end 28a. The purpose of the protrusion 28 will be best appreciated in view of the following description of the seal device it).

As is best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the sealing device it) comprises a body a including a first sealing member 30 having a first sealing surface 32 and a second sealing member 34 having a second annular sealing surface 36. A joining segment 38 connects the outer peripheries of the first sealing member 30 with the second sealing member 34. The material employed in construction of the sealing device 10 is a resilient thermoplastic, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and other copolymers. The material must have sufiicient resiliency such that the joining segment 34 is flexible and allows movement between the first sealing member 30 and the second seal member 34; In addition, the material of which the sealing device 10 is composed must be resilient enough such that one portion of the sealing members 32, 34 may move with respect to other portions thereof such that the sealing surfaces 32, 36 may move with respect to their normal position. Thus, the sealing members 32, 34 and the joining segment 38 combine to form a continuous, substantially C-shaped sealing section along the outer position of the sealing device 10.

As may be best seen in the sectional view of FIG. 2, the sealing device 12 is placed within the inside of the bottle cap 14 with its upper sealing member 30 abutting the inside of the end wall 26 of the bottle cap 14. A generally conical protrusion 40 is provided along the central axis of the sealing device 10 and perpendicular to the plane of the first sealing member 30, which protrusion terminates in a rounded tip42. The inner surface of the conical protrusion 40 is sized such as to mate intimately with the external surface'of the protrusion 28 of the bottle cap 14. It will be appreciated that when the sealing device 10 is placed against the end wall 26 of the bottle cap 14 the protrusion 28 will project into the protrusion 40. This mating of the protrusions 28 and 40 is effective to secure the sealing device 10 to the cap 14 such as when the cap 14 is removed from the bottle 12 the sealing device 10 will remain inside the cap 14.-

, When the sealing device 10 has been placed within the cap 14 and the cap 14 thereupon placed onto the bottle 12 as shown in the sectional view of FIG. 2, a secure seal is effected between the top surface 20 of the bottle 12 and the inside surface of the end Wall 26 of the cap 14 thereby securely sealing the cavity within the bottle 12. This seal is eifected by the action of the second sealing surface 36 engaging with the top surface 26 of the bottle 12. As the cap 14 is threaded down upon the bottle 12 the relative distance between the top surface 20 of the bottle 14 and the end wall 26 decreases. As this distance decreases, the second scaling member 34 is pressed upwardly toward the first'sealing member 30, the resilient joining segment being effective to allow for this resilient deformation of the body 10a of the sealing device 10.

K .It will be appreciated that if the top surface 20 of the bottle 12 has any surface irregularity contained therein, fluid contained within the cavity of the bottle 12 might be able to pass out through that irregularity,'down through the threads 18, 24-and out of the bottle 12. However, because of the independentsuspension of the sealing members 30, 34 by the joining segment 38, the second sealing member 34 will conform to the shape of any depression which may exist in the top wall 20 'of the bottle 12. Similarly, if there are any projections outwardly from the top wall 20, the second sealing member 34 will be resiliently deformed toward the first sealing member 30, at the point of those projections, however, the remaining portion of the second sealing member 34 will not be similarly deformed but will remain substantially in its undeformed condition. As the cap 14 is screwed down upon the bottle 12 there will be a general deformation of the second sealing member 34 toward the first sealing member 30 upon which the above discussed surfaceirregularity deformations are superimposed thereby providing a uniform seal completely around the surface 20.

A similar situation will occur at the inside of the top wall 16, however, it will be appreciated that, since the first sealing member 36 is a solid disc-like configuration, there is no problem of fiuid leakage along the inner surface of the top wall 26. In situations where the first sealing member is not of a solid disc-like configuration adequate sealing of this surface is provided by sealing devices according to the present invention as will be described in detail below.

Referring now specifically to FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 there i shown a sealing device generally designated by the numeral 50 which is a second illustrative embodiment of the present invention. The sealing device 50 is incorporated within assembly shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 which includes a bottle 52 and a compound cap 54. The bottle 52 is of conventional shape except that its neck 56 is relatively wide. The purpose of this construction is to allow the bottle 52 and its compound cap 64 to be used as a cocktail shaker or the like. The provision of a wide neck 56 allows for the passage of ice cubes or other solid objects through the wide neck 56 and into the cavity of the bottle 52. The neck 56 has formed thereon external threads 58 in the conventional manner. The top surface 60 of the neck 56 defines a plane which is perpendicular to the central axis of the neck 56 and the bottle 52 and is the surface with which the compound cap 54 must be sealed.

The compound cap includes a main cap portion 52 and a secondary cap portion 64 removably connected to the main cap portion 62. The main cap portion 62 includes a top wall 66 which is perpendicular to the axis of the cavity portion 62 and depending side walls 68 having integral internal threads, 70 formed on the inner surface thereof.- An upstanding spout portion 72 is joined at its base to the top wall 66 and provides an open passage, generally designated by the numeral 74, extending through the main cap portion 62. At the upper external portions of the spount 72 there are formed threads 76 which mate with appropriate threads formed within the secondary cap portion 64. The secondary cap portion 64 is of conventional design consisting of a top wall '78 and depending side walls 80 which are formed with appropriate threads 82 which mate with the threads 76 on the spout portion 72.

It will be appreciated that the compound cap 54 presents a special problem in sealing the cavity of the bottle 52. A solid disc-like member cannot be employed as a seal because any such normal solid disc member would obstruct the passageway 74. Use of an annular solid washer between the top surface 60 of the neck 56 and the lower surface 66a of the top wall 66 would present two potential leakage paths through which fluid contained in the bottle 52 might leak. Specifically fluid could pass between the seal and the inside surface 66a of the top wall 66, and fluid could also pass between the seal and the top surface 60 of the bottle 52. It is in situations such as the one presented by the compound cap 54, as well as others, that the teachings of the present invention are found to be particularly advantageous, as will be appreciated from the following detailed description of the sealing device 56."

g The sealing device 50 is comprised of a body 50a including a first sealing member 34 having a first sealing surface 86 and a second sealing member 88 having a second sealing surface 96. A resilient joining segment 92 interconnects the sealing members 84, 88 at their respective outer peripheries. The joining segment 92 is eifective to space the second sealing member 88 from the first sealing member 84 and to allow elastic relative movement therebetween.

The first sealing member 84 is of the generally annular configuration having a relatively thin thickness as compared with its diameter. A central opening 94 is formed within the first sealing member 84 and is at least as large as the passageway 74 and the axial opening within the main cap portion 62. As will be best apprec-iated from the sectional view of FIG. 6, the sealing device 50 is placed against the lower surface 66a of the top Wall 66 of the main cap portion 62. In the present illustrative embodiment there is provided an annular shoulder 96 which mates against a complementary annular projection 66b extending downwardly from the lower surface 66a of the top wall 66. The purpose of the annular shoulder 96 and the annular projection 66b is to secure the sealing device 50 into the main cap portion 62. It should be appreciated that the respective shoulder 96 and projection 66b are not essential to practice the present invention.

When the main cap portion 62 is threaded down onto the bottle 52 by means of the complementary threads 58, 79, the sealing device 50 is squeezed between the lower surface 66a of the top wall 66 and the top surface 60 of the neck 56. As was described above in detail in connection with the sealing device 10, the first sealing surface 86 is placed in intimate engagement with the surface 66a of the end wall 66 and the second sealing surface 90 is placed in intimate engagement with the top surface 60 of the neck 56. Any regularities which may exist in the top surface 60 are compensated for by the resilient character of the second sealing member 88 and of the resilient nature of the joining segment 92 which allows the second sealing surface 90 to independently conform to the shape of the surface 60. Similarly, the resilient nature of the first sealing member 84 and the resilient nature of the joining segment 92 provide means by which the first sealing surface 86 may conform exactly to the shape of the lower surface 66a of the top wall 66. Although there are two avenues through which fluid contained within the bottle 52 may escape between the neck 56 and the main cap portion 62, ie between the top surface 60 and the sealing device 145 and between the top wall 66 and the sealing device 10, the sealing device and its two sealing members 84, 88 are effective to preclude the passage of fluid between the bottle 52 and the main cap portion 62.

A further sealing device, generally designated by the numeral 98 is provide between the spout portion 72 of the main cap 62 and the top wall 78 of the secondary capped portion 64. It will be seen that the sealing device 98 is similar to the sealing device 10 depicted in FIGS. 1 through 4 with the exception that the first sealing member does not have a projection as projection 40 on sealing device 10. It will be also noted that the sealing device 98 is positioned with its second sealing member against the cap and its first sealing member against the spout portion 72. Although the sealing device 98 is illustrated as being turned 180 from the position .of the seal ing device 10 in FIG. 2, it will be appreciated that the function and operation of the two sealing devices 98, 10 are identical.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that there is provided according to the present invention a sealing device having two independent sealing members each of which has a sealing surface.

The sealing device is adapted to provide a seal between two surfaces and comprises a body fabricated of a flexible material which includes a marginal section and a turnedin marginal flange spaced from said marginal section and substantially coextensive therewith. A joining segment is provided which interconnects the marginal section and marginal flange. The outer faces of the marginal section and the marginal flange respectively provide first and sec ond sealing means for the two surfaces to be sealed with the joining segment allowing the sealing means to independently accommodate any irregularities in the two surfaces to be sealed.

It will be appreciated that this particular form of seal is readily adapted to all standard bottle and cap applications and finds particularly useful employment in those situations wherein there is a central column or central opening in a cap which therefore provides two possible avenues of fiuid leakage.

A latitude of modification, substitution and change is intended in the foregoing disclosure and in some instances some features of the invention will be used Without the use of other corresponding features. Accordingly, the claims herein should be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A cap and sealing device for a wide-mouthed bottle having closure threads comprising a complementary circular cap having a depending cylindrical skirt having cooperating closure threads formed therein, said cap having a depending securement ridge formed therein for retaining a sealing device, a first sealing device for forming a seal between said cap and said bottle comprising a first sealing member having a cap-contacting sealing surface, a second sealing member having an annular bottle contacting surface substantially parallel to said cap-contacting surface and facing in the opposite direction, a resilient joining segment integrally formed with said first and second members resiliently supporting same for independent movement to accommodate irregularities in the cap and the bottle, and a cooperating securement shoulder formed integrally with said first member and sized to engage and become secured to said depending securement ridge, said cap having a central opening within said securement ridge and an upward extension forming a narrow-mouthed pouring spout, an auxiliary cap engageable with said pour ing spout extension, and an auxiliary sealing device for forming a seal between said auxiliary cap and said pouring spout, said auxiliary seal having first and second paral- 161 members having substantially parallel cap-contacting and spout-contacting sealing surf-aces respectively, and a resilient joining segment for resiliently supporting said first and second members for independent movement to accommodate irregularities in said auxiliary cap and saidpouring spout, said cap and sealing devices forming means providing a sealable wide-mouthed opening for a bottle and a sealable narrow-mouthed pouring spout.

2. A sealing device for sealing the opening of a bottle comprising a bottle cap having means to secure same to the bottle and a protruding annular ridge extending inwardly of said bottle cap, and a thermoplastic sealing attachment including first and second annular and general 1y parallel sealing members having sealing surfaces facing in opposite directions, a flexible joining segment integrally formed with and between said first and second sealing members and holding same apart for independent movement of said members to accommodate irregularities in the bottle and the bottle cap respectively, said joining segment having a maximum thickness equal to the thicknesses of said respective, sealing members, said first sealing member being of annular configuration and having an outer diameter equal to the diameter of said joining segment and an inner diameter equal to the diameter of said annular ridge, said second sealing member being of annular configuration having an outer diameter equal to the diameter of said joining segment and an inner diameter greater than the diameter of said annular ridge, and a mounting and securing member integrally formed in said sealing device extending from said first sealing member and complementary to said annnular ridge on said bottle cap for securing said sealing attachment to said bottle cap.

3. A sealing device for sealing the opening of a bottle ing surfaces facing in opposite directions, a flexible join- 5 ing segment integrally formed with and between said first and second sealing members and holding same for independent movement of said members to accommodate irregularities in the bottle and the bottle cap respectively,

said joining segment having a maximum thickness equal 10 to the thickness of said respective sealing members, said first sealing member being of disc-like configuration having a diameter equal to the diameter of said joining segment, said second sealing member being of annular configuration having an outer diameter equal to the diameter of 15 t said joining segment and a smaller inner diameter, and a mounting and securing member integrally formed at the center of said first sealing member having a generally conical and axial configuration complementary to said cap protrusion for securing said sealing attachment to said bottle cap.

References Cited by the Examiner FOREIGN PATENTS 913,132 6/54 Germany. 1,053,809 10/53 France. 1,240,644 8/60 France.

FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CAP AND SEALING DEVICE FOR A WIDE-MOUTHED BOTTLE HAVING CLOSURE THREADS COMPRISING A COMPLEMENTARY CIRCULAR CAP HAVING A DEPENDING CYCLINDRICAL SKIRT HAVING COOPERATING CLOSURE THREADS FORMED THEREIN, SAID CAP HAVING A DEPENDING SECUREMENT RIDGE FORMED THEREIN FOR RETAINING A SEALING DEVICE, A FIRST SEALING DEVICE FOR FORMING A SEAL BETWEEN SAID CAP AND SAID BOTTLE COMPRISING A FIRST SEALING MEMBER HAVING A CAP-CONTACTING SEALING SURFACE; A SECOND SEALING MEMBER HAVING AN ANNULAR BOTTLE CONTACTING SURFACE SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID CAP-CONTACTING SURFACE AND FACING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, A RESILIENT JOINING SEGMENT INTEGRALLY FORMED WITH SAID FIRST AND SECOND MEMBERS RESILIENTLY SUPPORTING SAME FOR INDEPENDENT MOVEMENT TO ACCOMMODATE IRREGULARITIES IN THE CAP AND THE BOTTLE, AND A COOPERATING SECUREMENT SHOULDER FORMED INTEGRALLY WITH SAID FIRST MEMBER AND SIZED TO ENGAGE AND BECOME SECURED TO SAID DEPENDING SECUREMENT RIDGE, SAID CAP HAVING A CENTRAL OPENING WITHIN SAID SECUREMENT RIDGE 